Dye Stuff

Ready to do some blending.

May & June 2011

I have been tending a little to my garden & very much enjoying my beautiful iris collection. We are at the end of a very dull & cool spring & about to leap into summer next week. Spring started wet with a couple of very warm to hot days, but for the most part it has been sweater weather. For the last week I have been wishing for rain.
Here are just a few of the things I have on the go. Sox in a gorgeous to me colour of turquoise, blue & black in a barberpole ply. They come out as mottled & I used a lace ribbing for decorative effect. These have to have been on the needles for 6 months at least.

I have been amusing myself with a new gas range. No electronics to break down on this beauty. Cooking & baking are very important to me & I love using good tools. Have a look.

Bertazzoni

I recently got some really big bags of British Milk Sheep fleece in white & black. I'm working on getting the white scoured a bit at a time. I used it for dyeing with Coreopsis leftover from last year. The colours always impress me. Alum & iron mordant. The third batch the dye was pretty well exhausted so I added a little leftover cutch. Beautiful warm yellow.

Br. Milk Sheep. Coreopsis alum, iron. Coreopsis w. cutch.

A Lervad 36" countermarche loom has found its way into my studio. It was once owned by a Danish woman who moved to this country with her loom. She has passed away, but she left samples on her loom which are pictured below.

The materials used are unknown.
And here is the Lervad loom. I replaced tie up on it and washed the heddles and polished it up. It is waiting for the dark grey Shetland wool I have been spinning for a bag.

Lervad countermarche.

This wool is not yet processed since spinning. I will full the cloth when woven. I'm thinking of using a 2/2 twill. I have about 400 yds spun. That's more white Br. Milk sheep fleece drying in the background.

Must get on with my day now. I have been sewing a few new summer tops I need to renew my wardrobe.

Items of Note

I have finished my Level 1 Master Spinner workbook/project. Here is an item from it:

Coreopsis dye with alum mordant. Sumac dyed decoration w. more coreopsis.

It is knitted with homespun marled wool yarn made from 2 plies of Clun Forest & a single of dark grey Romney. I am so happy to have my project finished and on it's way to my teacher for marking. I will have some free time to get back to weaving. 

This is what I did for 2 hours after I mailed it.

My new dye garden has some dye plants in it now too - alkanet, madder, dyer's broom, golden marguerite. More later.

A Full Day

Little bit of sunshine today; some heavy rain and a lot of activity.

Andean Plying Tool

Toque, my spinner's project

Newly Baked Bread

Carding Romney fleece

Coreopsis, a dye plant

I did some heavy weeding in my side garden (the one I see everytime I arrive home from work), sewing for a customer, knitting on my spinner's project, baking bread, preparing cinnamon buns for tomorrow, vaccuuming the car and carding more Romney fleece.

Rearranged and Weeded

Marigold, a dye plant

I'm pleased with what I accomplished. I wish I could say it's all done so that I can get back to the weaving, but not quite yet. I must get this project finished and mailed away before I can allow myself to pursue my weaving.